We Are Tennis by BNP Paribas brings you the best of the past week, on and off the courts, day after day. With the birth of the prodigy Jannik Sinner, Mladenovic’s triumph in Australia, and a cyclist named Greta Thunberg.

Monday, November 4th

It smelled like the end of the season this week, with, on the menu, only the NextGen Finals being played in men’s tennis, a competition in which all the best youngsters of the circuit are facing each other. And in women’s tennis, the BNP Paribas Fed Cup final between Australia and France, with the local star, the world number 1 Ashleigh Barty. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic celebrated his win in Paris with his fans, Roger Federer announced that he will be flying to South America to play some exhibition matches after the ATP Finals, and Kim Clijsters pushed back her return on the circuit after announcing that she won’t be ready for the start of next season. We also found out that a huge pollution cloud was stopping airplanes from landing at the New Delhi airport and that you could now be jailed for riding an electric scooter in Singapore. Seems fair.

Tuesday, November 5th

It was the first day of the NextGen Finals in Milan: De Minaur, one of the top seeds, held his rank as he dominated the Spaniard Davidovich Fokina and the youngest player of the tournament Sinner made the most of his wild card by defeating Tiafoe. On her side, Viktoria Azarenka is already on holidays by the sea with her son, just like Serena Williams who relaxed by the pool, and Simona Halep, who prefers cycling. Speaking of cycling, Greta Thunberg went for a bike ride with her new friend Arnold Schwarzenegger. A nice story to finish the day: the owner of a 310-year old violin which was stolen in the London Underground saw the thief handing it back to him, after regretting his actions. Many things are happening in the British capital a few days before the start of the ATP Finals…

Wednesday, November 6th

De Minaur and Sinner carried on their victorious journeys, with two wins in two matches played at the NextGen Finals. The tournament used VAR for the first time ever to check if a ball had hit the scoreboard during the match between Ruud and Davidovich Fokina. But this November 6th was mainly marked by two great news: Del Potro is back in training and Andy Murray became a father for the third time after his wife gave birth to a little boy. Nicer news than the 34 months in jail that a Malaysian man was sentenced to after being accused of killing a kitten in a dryer…. Let’s quickly forget about this crime, and replace the thought with holiday pictures of Khachanov and Andreescu.

Thursday, November 7th

We now know who will play in the semi-finals of the NextGen: De Minaur and Kecmanovic in group A, Sinner and Tiafoe in group B. In other news, Karolina Pliskova parted ways with her coach Conchita Martinez, Rafa Nadal reassured his fans after getting back to training in London before the start of the ATP Finals, Wozniacki posted a picture of herself wearing a bikini on Instragram, Boris Becker announced the future creation of his tennis academy in Germany, and Serena Williams stated that she wanted to play as long as Roger Federer is playing. Copycat! Speaking of copies, the internet went mad after seeing a picture of the TV director Michael Engler, who looks exactly like Novak Djokovic but 20 years older and with a fake tan!

Friday, November 8th

We celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the ex-president of Brazil Lula was freed from jail, and huge protests were still going on in Hong-Kong and in Chile: History with a capital H was the main topic in this first week of November. As for tennis news, it was way more calm: De Minaur and Sinner qualified for the NextGen final in Milan, Andy Murray announced that a documentary focusing on his comeback will be aired soon, Andrea Gaudenzi, a board member of the ATP, estimated the value of the tennis market at a sum which is between 1 and 1,5 billion dollars, and the eight players who will take part in the ATP Finals next week took the traditional picture.

Saturday, November 9th

Careful, here comes a phenomenon: invited to take part in the NextGen Finals at home, Jannik Sinner triumphed in Milan after dominating Alex De Minaur in the final. A true performance for the youngest (18 years old) of the competition. Meanwhile, in Australia, the locals and the French ended the first day of the BNP Paribas Fed Cup with a tight score, 1-1. With the world number 1 Ashleigh Barty scoring the equalizer in front of her crowd after Kristina Mladenovic scored the first point of the final earlier. In London, it was the Eve of battle for the players who will take part in the ATP Finals, but everyone seemed to have a great time, as we could see with this incredible photobomb produced by Djoko. Everyone was in a good mood also on the internet, as celebrities (Ben Stiller, Mark Hamill, Zack Braff or the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau) wished a young Canadia, Kade Foster, nice messages for his birthday after his mother complained that none of his classmates had answered his birthday invites. The power of social networks!

Sunday, November 10th

The incredible Frenchwomen! Lead by a dominant Kristina Mladenovic, the French BNP Paribas Fed Cup team went against all odds to triumph in Australia and win the last edition of the competition in its current format. They’re the last, forever. It’s the end of the season in women’s tennis, and the start of the money time in men’s tennis with the start of the ATP Finals in Londons: Djokovic defeated Berrettini, and - small surprise - Thiem defeated Federer. It was a complicated day for the Swiss, but it was even worst for Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, who resigned and claimed that he was the victim of a coup after being put under pressure by huge demonstrations. But the finish the week with nicer news, let’s look at a very serious scientific study which focused on songs which stimulate pleasure.